Help / Animated AVIF

What is AVIF? How to Create Animated AVIF Images

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AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a modern image format based on the AV1 video codec. It was finalized in 2019 by the Alliance for Open Media — an industry group that includes Google, Apple, Mozilla, Microsoft, Netflix, and others. The format is royalty-free and open source.

AVIF supports both still images and image sequences (animation), making it a powerful alternative to GIF, APNG, and WebP for animated content on the web. For a side-by-side comparison of all animated image formats, see our format comparison guide.

Since it's based on video codec, it's an excellent choice for creating animated content on the web, beating all other popular animated image formats in terms of file size and quality.

Advantages of AVIF

  • Excellent compression – AVIF typically produces files that are 50–90% smaller than equivalent GIFs, and 20–50% smaller than WebP, while retaining comparable or better visual quality.
  • Full color support – supports 24-bit color (16.7 million colors) and high dynamic range (HDR) with up to 12-bit depth, unlike GIF's 256-color limitation.
  • Alpha transparency – provides a full 8-bit alpha channel for smooth, partial transparency — far superior to GIF's binary (on/off) transparency.
  • Lossy and lossless – choose between lossy compression for smallest file sizes or lossless compression for pixel-perfect quality.
  • Royalty-free – no licensing fees or patent concerns, unlike some competing formats.

Browser Support

As of 2026, AVIF is supported by all major web browsers:

  • Chrome – full support since version 85 (still) and 93 (animated)
  • Firefox – full support since version 113 (animated since version 114)
  • Safari – support since version 16.4 (still) and 17.0 (animated)
  • Edge – full support (based on Chromium)
  • Opera – full support (based on Chromium)

Up-to-date browser support: caniuse.com/avif.

This means AVIF images can now be used on websites with confidence that the vast majority of visitors will be able to view them.

If this animation works for you, your browser supports animated AVIF: Animated AVIF demo - butterfly AVIF image, 87.4 KB, 67 frames
(same animation as GIF – 781 KB at worse quality)

How to Create Animated AVIF

Ezgif offers several ways to create animated AVIF images, depending on your source material:

A) Create animated AVIF from individual images

Use our animated AVIF maker to upload multiple PNG, JPG, WebP, or other image files and assemble them into an animated AVIF. You can choose the frame order, duration, and transition effects.

This is the best method when you have individual frames or a series of photos you want to animate, offering full control over timing and quality settings.

B) Convert video to animated AVIF

Our Video to AVIF converter lets you upload MP4, WebM, AVI, MOV, and other video files and convert them (or a selected portion) to animated AVIF. You can set the frame rate, quality, size, and start/end times.

AVIF is an especially good choice for video-to-animation conversion because its AV1-based compression handles complex, photographic content much more efficiently than GIF or WebP, resulting in significantly smaller files.

C) Convert GIF to AVIF

The easiest way to get an animated AVIF is to convert an existing GIF. Simply upload your GIF file and click "Convert." The resulting AVIF file will typically be much smaller than the original GIF.

Note that converting from GIF will not improve the color quality beyond what the original GIF contained (since GIF is limited to 256 colors), but the file size savings can be substantial.

D) Convert from other animated formats

You can also create animated AVIF by converting from other animated image formats:

Converting AVIF to Other Formats

If you need to convert an AVIF file to a different format for compatibility reasons, ezgif offers the following converters:

Bulk converters are also available for AVIF to JPG and AVIF to PNG batch conversion.

Editing Animated AVIF

Most of the editing tools on ezgif work with animated AVIF files. You can resize, crop, rotate, change speed, reverse, split into frames, cut/trim, add text, apply effects, and optimize your animated AVIF images online, just like you would with GIF files. For tips on reducing file size, see our optimization guide — many of the same techniques apply to AVIF as well.

AVIF vs. GIF vs. WebP — When to Use Each

If you're deciding which animated format to use, here's a practical breakdown:

  • GIF — the most universally supported format. Works literally everywhere, including email clients, forums, and legacy software. The tradeoff is poor quality: only 256 colors per frame, binary transparency (no smooth edges), and large file sizes. Use GIF when compatibility is your top priority and you don't mind the quality limitations.
  • WebP — a significant improvement over GIF. Supports millions of colors, alpha transparency, and both lossy and lossless compression. File sizes are typically 50–80% smaller than GIF. Well-supported in all modern browsers. A good middle-ground choice if you want quality and broad compatibility.
  • AVIF — the best option for quality and compression. Files are typically 20–50% smaller than WebP and dramatically smaller than GIF. Supports HDR, 12-bit color, and excellent transparency. The only downside is that encoding is slower, and very old browser versions don't support it. For new web projects, AVIF is the best default choice.

You can convert between all these formats on ezgif: GIF to AVIF, AVIF to GIF, WebP to AVIF, AVIF to WebP, or GIF to WebP.

Limitations and Things to Watch Out For

  • Encoding speed — AVIF encoding is computationally intensive compared to GIF or WebP. Large animations with many frames may take noticeably longer to process. This is a limitation of the AV1 codec itself, not the tool.
  • Older browser support — while all current browsers support AVIF, users on older versions (Safari before 17, Firefox before 113) won't see animated AVIF. If your audience includes users on outdated browsers, consider providing a GIF or WebP fallback using the HTML <picture> element.
  • Social media support — most social platforms don't yet accept AVIF uploads directly. If you need to share an animation on Twitter/X, Discord, or similar services, convert to GIF or convert to MP4 first.
  • Maximum quality is lossy — even at the highest quality settings, AVIF animation uses lossy compression. If you need true lossless frame-by-frame storage, APNG is a better choice (at the cost of much larger files).